quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
I think tOSU screwed up going for it on 4th at the 50yd line...

The way PSU DB's are whiffing on tackles in open space I'd bench my punter and field goal kicker.

Signs of life...

Great game. Both teams did the conference proud.

That might be the single worst play call I've ever seen. You have a QB who is having a record breaking night. You have a back, Sanders, who has done nothing. Except fumble on his own 25 and hand OSU a touchdown.

It comes down to one play-- and Franklin decides-- give the ball to... Sanders. Holeee Shit!

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:
That might be the single worst play call I've ever seen. You have a QB who is having a record breaking night. You have a back, Sanders, who has done nothing. Except fumble on his own 25 and hand OSU a touchdown.

It comes down to one play-- and Franklin decides-- give the ball to... Sanders. Holeee Shit!

Yeah, akin to the Seahawks opting to throw at the 2 yard line with BeastMode right there.

They shoulda let the Penn State QB do his thing. He was pretty much unstoppable most of the game.

That and the Clemson game were the best of the day IMO.

Week 5 Wrap-up:
Some exciting games this weekend. Some were anticipated to be exciting and some were made exciting by the better team playing down to their competition

Cent MI @ #21 MSU at 11:00 on FS1 - Central Michigan lead from early in the first until 1/3 of the way through the 2nd quarter. Then, MSU poured it on for two quarters and at one point was up 31-3, but gave up 17 points to make it 31-20. I didn't see the 4th quarter, did they put in that god awful prevent defense.

IU @ Rutgers at 11:00 on BTN - Surprisingly, Rutgers drew first blood and lead for 3 minutes in the first. IU bounced back and went into the locker room at half-time up 24-7. Mysteriously, their offense never scored another point (2nd half possessions were punt, punt, fumble, interception, end of game). Rutgers scored 10 unanswered points and came within 7 but couldn't get a stop in the last 3:52 to give their offense another shot. I was right on the Hosers winning but wrong on them covering.

Purdue @ NE at 2:30 on BTN - I was correct that Purdue would win and cover. Purdue's D had 2.5 quarters of outstanding play, but the other 1.5 quarters made me tense. NE's Spielman is an excellent receiver and Ozigbo is a beast of a running back. NE needs to really needs to cutout the 15 yard penalties (they had 5 personal fouls) as they helped Purdue keep drives alive.

#14 UofM @ NWU at 3:30 on Fox - This game was the surprise of the day. NWU was up 17-0 at one point, lead at half-time 17-7, and held on to the lead until 4:06 left int the 4th. I was right on the Wolverines winning but wrong on them covering.

#4 tOSU @ #9 PSU at 6:30 on ABC - this game lived up to the hype and for the second year in a row was decided by 1 point. In the end, PSU was too one dimensional (i.e. McSorley does everything on offense), and agree with others that the 4th down call with 1:22 left was strange going to a guy who was ineffective all game.

Kudos:

tOSU for beating a very good team on the road

PSU's QB McSorley. Even though they didn't win, McSorley's 286 yards passing, 2 passing TDs, and 175 yards rushing was truly exceptional.

tOSU's QB Haskins. Other than the 1 INT for 45 yards, Haskins had a big game with 270 yards passing and 3 passing TDs.

UofM's defense. Once the O quit giving NWU a short field they had an outstanding game holding NWU to 28 yards rushing, gave up zero pass TDs, and had 6 sacks.

Purdue's QB Blough. He extended his lights out QB play streak to 3 games with 300+ yards of error free passing and some key runs. He was riding the pine 4 weeks ago, but in the last 3 weeks he has passed for 1196 yards, 7 passing TDs, only 1 INT, completed 68% of his pass attempts, and rushed for 2 TDs.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:
That might be the single worst play call I've ever seen. You have a QB who is having a record breaking night. You have a back, Sanders, who has done nothing. Except fumble on his own 25 and hand OSU a touchdown.

It comes down to one play-- and Franklin decides-- give the ball to... Sanders. Holeee Shit!

It was a read option - and from the replays McSorley read it right. The right DE had him on the option. OSU had called a line stunt with the left DE looping inside and right into the play.

Now, I wouldn't have called a running play except maybe the QB draw they had run, but I don't think in the face of a run blitz it was going to matter. Swing pass or finding Lewerke would have been my choice coming on that down and distance.

After getting hit a few times it looked like Haskins spent most of the rest of the night throwing off his back foot. It will be interesting to see how he handles the next high pressure D.

Statistically his night was good, but IMO Penn State beat Penn State last night.

Misread your qoute, so I deleted my original response.

Yes, Penn State lost to themselves last night, especially in the 1st half - I see the failure to get TD on the first two scores instead of FGs and just letting OSU hang on and stay in the game. Yes they were ‘dominant’ in that half, but they scoreboard at half didn’t show that very well.

I’m sure if they played that game 4 times, PSU would win 2 or 3 of them.

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:
That might be the single worst play call I've ever seen. You have a QB who is having a record breaking night. You have a back, Sanders, who has done nothing. Except fumble on his own 25 and hand OSU a touchdown.

It comes down to one play-- and Franklin decides-- give the ball to... Sanders. Holeee Shit!

It was a QB keep or give option. The Bucks ran a stunt, they had not run all year on D.

It appeared that the middle was going to be open and the right side of the Off line was collapsing. On the left McSorley saw the d end closing in on him and he had to hand off to go up the middle, but Chase Young who lined up on the d ling at end, stunted around to go up over the center. It worked. It looked like a bad play call, but the bucks finally come up with a really good D play at the right time and all you hear is bad play call.
We could have said that about most of the Off plays the Bucks ran in the first half. How many deep passes did they throw??
Ohio State could have taken another step back on the pass drop to gain a little more time, but still never threw deep, except for one time and that was a miss throw, guy was open and qb had time.
He the bucks could have made the QB go under center for the 4th and 1 play to QB sneak and might have had a lot better chance. We can question many calls for any game, but the Bucks D stiffened enough to get the job done.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Misread your qoute, so I deleted my original response.

Yes, Penn State lost to themselves last night, especially in the 1st half - I see the failure to get TD on the first two scores instead of FGs and just letting OSU hang on and stay in the game. Yes they were ‘dominant’ in that half, but they scoreboard at half didn’t show that
very well.


I’m sure if they played that game 4 times, PSU would win 2 or 3 of them.

So OSU did not play well in the first half. You could see their QB was nervous, but still they could have played a lot better, so not sure what you are saying is valid.
I think OVERALL, the Bucks have more talent.'
I do think that Franklin has Urbans number and knows how to beat him. But I see it that if they played 4 times OSU wins 3. Trace had some great runs, but PSU got away with stacking the Line of scrimage and OSU did not take advantage of it.
On a few plays, especially the Slant Trace threw, OSU was originally lined up correctly, but shifted and made that throw possible.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Misread your qoute, so I deleted my original response.

Yes, Penn State lost to themselves last night, especially in the 1st half - I see the failure to get TD on the first two scores instead of FGs and just letting OSU hang on and stay in the game. Yes they were ‘dominant’ in that half, but they scoreboard at half didn’t show that very well.

I’m sure if they played that game 4 times, PSU would win 2 or 3 of them.

Completely agree. Hell, in the last 3 years this game has come down to a couple of plays a game that decide the winner or loser.

Week 6:
No marquee match-ups this week but there are 6 games. 2 teams have bye weeks (Purdue and PSU). All times Central Time:

MD @ #15 UofM at 11:00 on ABC - The Wolverines are unanimously 17.5 point favorites. The Terps are probably the best rushing offense that UofM's stingy rush defense has faced this year. What's going to be really lopsided is the Terps poor passing offense against UofM's high pressure pass defense that gets a lot of sacks and QB hurries. Higdon, Patterson, and Peoples-Jones are likely to have big games on offense. UofM wins and covers.

NWU @ #20 MSU at 11:00 on FS1 - Depending on which odds service you believe the Sparties are 10 to 10.5 point favorites. In light of UofM squeaking by NWU last week, I think the Sparties are going to make a statement by decisively beating NWU this week. MSU wins and covers.

IL @ Rutgers at 11:00 on BTN - Depending on which odds service you believe the Illini are 4 to 5 point favorites. Not surprised the odds makers have this one close as neither team has a good offense or defense. I think IL's true freshman QB Rivers and their two running backs will get their offense going this week. IL wins and covers.

IA @ MN at 2:30 on BTN - Depending on which odds service you believe the Hawkeyes are 6.5 to 7 point favorites. This is likely the best game of the weekend. The Gophers struggled against their two Big Ten opponents this week and this week will be no exception. IA gets their offense going this week, and IA's defense chokes off both the run and pass. IA wins and covers.

IU @ #3 tOSU at 3:00 on Fox - Depending on which odds service you believe the Buckeyes are 26 to 27.5 point favorites. This one is going to get ugly as IU could barely beat Rutgers last week. tOSU wins but doesn't cover the huge spread.

NE @ #16 WI at 6:30 on BTN - Depending on which odds service you believe the Badgers are 17 to 18.5 point favorites. Going into the season I thought this would be one of the better match-ups in the Big Ten West. The good news is that it's a rivalry game so it may be a better game than anticipated. WI is fresh from their bye week while NE is coming in beat up and win less. NE is going to have to put so many people in the box to battle WI's talented O-line and their sensational
RB Taylor that they'll be vulnerable to Hornibrook passing to the other Taylor (WR A.J. Taylor). Unfortunately for NE, I think this one gets ugly and WI will cover.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

quote:

NWU @ #20 MSU at 11:00 on FS1 - Depending on which odds service you believe the Sparties are 10 to 10.5 point favorites. In light of UofM squeaking by NWU last week, I think the Sparties are going to make a statement by decisively beating NWU this week. MSU wins and covers.

Oops.... that one was a surprise

Week 6 Wrap-up:

MD @ #15 UofM at 11:00 on ABC - As expected, UofM won and covered, MD's rushing was the best they've seen to date (147 yds vs UofM's opponents averaging 89 yds [Non-conf avg 127 yds and Big Ten avg 34 yds]), UofM had a good day rushing, UofM had an excellent day passing, and UofM's outstanding defense made life miserable for MD trying to pass.

NWU @ #20 MSU at 11:00 on FS1 - This was the surprise of the day, and a good example of why statistics sometimes don't matter. MSU's rush defense was slightly better than their statistics (held NWU to 8 yards rushing) but it didn't matter because they couldn't defend against the pass. On offense, MSU continues to struggle to run and Lewerke's pass stats look good but don't translate to points.

IL @ Rutgers at 11:00 on BTN - As expected, the Illini won and covered, their two running backs had big games, and their mobile QB had a big game. The surprise was that it wasn't their true freshman QB, it was the Senior Bush who came back from injury earlier than expected.

IA @ MN at 2:30 on BTN - As expected IA won and covered, the Gophers struggled against yet another Big Ten opponent, IA got their offense going, and IA's defense choked off both the run and pass.

IU @ #3 tOSU at 3:00 on Fox - As expected, tOSU won but didn't cover the huge spread. The surprise was that IU drew first blood, IU lead for 12 minutes in first half, and half-time was tOSU leading 28-20. The second half was a different story as the Buckeyes manhandled the Hosers on both sides of the ball. tOSU's D is noticeably less effective without Bosa.

NE @ #16 WI at 6:30 on BTN - As expected, the Badgers won and covered. Their talented O-line and their sensational RB Taylor were too much for NE's defense. NE is showing glimmers of hope with Martinez's QB play (384 yds passing for TDs without an INT), and Spielman is a stud at WR.

Kudos:

UofM's QB Patterson. 282 yds passing and 3 passing TDs but had 1 INT.

UofM's Defense held MD to 73 yards passing and snagged a pick 6.

NWU for taking down #20 MSU on the road.

NWU's QB Thorson. He had 373 yards passing, 3 passing TDs (2 INTs), and a rushing TD.

IA's QB Stanley. 314 yards passing and 4 passing TDs (1 INT).

IA's defense. 4 interceptions, 5 sacks, and held MN to 86 yards rushing.

tOSU's QB Haskins. He turned in a Heisman worthy performance of 455 yards passing and 6 passing TDs (2 INTs).

WI's RB Taylor. 221 yards rushing and 3 rushing TDs. One of the TDs was a career (he's only a sophomore) long 88 yds.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

Iowa had 2 mistakes both near the Minnesota goal line. Stanley threw interseption and was blind sided and coughed up the ball.
If Iowa is going to win they have to clean up mistakes.
Iowa started 2 true freshmen corner backs and Minnesota has some talented receivers.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RFSALES,

Week 7:
Nobody has a bye week or non-conference game this week so we have 7 Big Ten Match-ups including one marquee game (all times Central time):

MN @ #3 tOSU at 11:00 on FS1 - The Buckeyes are unanimously favored by 30 points. The young Golden Gophers team is having a rough go this year in the Big Ten and this weekend will be no exception. The Buckeyes win and cover despite back-ups getting a lot of playing time. The only question is whether or not they score more or less than 60 points.

Rutgers @ MD at 11:00 on BTN - Depending on which odds service you believe, the Terps are favored by 23.5 to 24 points. The only question this week is if MD shows up as Dr. Jeckyl or Mr. Hyde as they've been very inconsistent this year. I'm going with a mild-mannered Terp team who wins but fails to cover.

IA @ IU at 11:00 on ESPN2 - Depending on which odds service you believe, the Hawkeyes are favored by 3.5 to 4 points. The Hawkeyes have a pretty good defense, but the offense has been hit or miss. IU is much better than their record and can hang with tOSU for a half. IA's defense is capable of keeping IU in double digits rushing, and when that happens IU loses (e.g. MSU and tOSU). Hawkeyes win and cover.

NE @ NWU at 11:00 on ABC - Depending on which odds service you believe, the Wildcats are favored by 3 to 3.5 points. NE has a rough time against teams who can pass, and NWU's 4th year starting QB Thorson can certainly do that (e.g last weeks 373 yards against MSU). NE has a lot of promise on offense with freshman QB Martinez and WR Spielman, but NWU's defense has been playing well the past 2 weeks. I'm going with the Wildcats to win and cover.

MSU @ #8 PSU at 2:30 on BTN - Depending on which odds service you believe, the Nittany Lions are favored by 13 to 13.5 points. MSU has a lights out rush defense but is horrible at stopping the pass. That is a really recipe for disaster when you're facing an outstanding QB like McSorley. MSU's QB Lewerke reminds me of former Boiler QB and 7 year NFL back-up Curtis Painter (broke many of Drew Brees' Purdue records) as his passing quickly moved the offense between the twenties, but their red zone results tended to be a FG, INT, or fumble. One of the reasons for MSU's offensive woes is they are surprisingly poor at rushing this year. Sparties need to get turned around to be bowl eligible, and embrace the opportunity to spoil the hopes of several rivals. It isn't happening this week, and PSU wins and covers.

Purdue @ IL at 2:30 on FS1 - Depending on which odds service you believe, my Boilermakers are favored by 10 to 10.5 points. Purdue's defense has been good the past 2.25 games, and they'll need to stop the rush against IL's rushing tandom and mobile QB. Blough has been playing lights out the past 3 weeks and IL does not have a good pass D. Purdue wins but doesn't cover.

#15 WI @ #12 UofM at 6:30 on ABC - The Badgers are unanimously favored by 10 points. This marquee match-up has historically been a good game, and the Badgers are one of the few top 20 teams Harbaugh's teams have beaten while at UofM. Both teams have a good rush defense, but WI has the better rushing offense with their talented O-line and sophomore phenom Taylor. Last week, MI's excellent rush D gave up 147 yards rushing and 2 rushing TDs to MD and WI is much better at rushing (e.g. racked up 210 yards and 1 rushing TD against IA's top notch rush D). Both teams have good pass D's (MI gets after the QB better), and UofM has the edge on passing offense. I'm going with the Badgers to win, but fail to cover.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

It seems like every team is bringing their A game to play the Buckeyes. Minn has an outstanding O line. The one is 6,9 and 400 pounds.. And not fat. Ohio states ground game has also been struggling too. This should be a great day for big ten football..

Well Ohio State won but they did not look impressive.

For most of the game Minnesota marched down the field on those 7 yards pop passes.

They(OSU) did do a lot better near the middle of the 3rd quarter.
The missed field goal by Minnesota helped along with the three turnovers also helped.

It was a great game. Minnesota brought their game face on.

The Penn state Michigan St game is also a great game. I am sure the Wisconsin Mich game will be just as good.. Tough weekend

quote:

Originally posted by Zecpull:
The Penn state Michigan St game is also a great game.

I was watching Purdue but it was such a blowout that I switched over to MSU and PSU for the last 6 minutes. Excellent game! I thought MSU was toast after the fake FG, but what a finish!